Measures against earthquakes

Personal measures

If outside, stay away from buildings, bridges and electricity pylons and move to open areas.

Avoid areas at risk from secondary processes, such as landslides, rockfall and soil liquefaction.

After an earthquake, check gas, water and electricity pipes and lines for damage.

Listen to the radio and follow the instructions issued by the authorities.

Technical/biological measures

No measures can be taken to prevent earthquakes themselves, however limited measures exist that can counteract their secondary effects like landslides, rockfall and soil liquefaction.

Earthquake-proof planning and design of buildings

The microzoning of the local geological substratum provides indicators of areas in which tremors will have a particularly strong or attenuated effect.

Organisational measures

At present, earthquake prediction is insufficiently precise to provide the public with sufficient advance warning. For this reason, adequate preparedness and assistance in catastrophes is extremely important in areas affected by earthquakes. Measures of this nature enable numbers of human lives to be saved.